No matter how or why you choose to lie, science can expose the truth.

by Jonathan Bradshaw | November 09, 2011 | (0)

“JONATHAN, CLARE, COME IN HERE NOW!”

We knew from the harsh tone in Mum’s voice that one of us was in trouble. Bonded by shared sibling guilt, we looked at each other with wide eyes, gulped and shuffled into the kitchen.

It was The Case of the Missing Cookies. Every Saturday morning, Mum baked some cakes or biscuits, which to my 9-year-old eyes (and stomach) were simply irresistible. Often after bedtime while my parents watched TV in the living room, my cravings would get the better of me and I’d creep downstairs and quietly liberate a few cookies from the tin only to be devoured under the safety of my duvet. 

That Tuesday, Mum had had enough. Only three of the 30 original cookies remained.

“Have either of you been helping yourselves to the biscuits?” 

I wavered, stuck between doing the right thing and knowing the punishment of confessing—no more cookies. I had finally decided to fess up when the unthinkable happened. 

“It was me.” 

My sister! I tried to hide a smile. We’d both been doing the same thing—only my sister found the guilt of lying a little harder to bear. 

I expect we all told our fair share of lies as we were growing up, but what about now, as an adult? Have you told a lie in the last 24 hours…honestly? 

Maybe it was a little white lie, or maybe it was a huge, barely believable whopper—a massive, epic, blatant, enormous, gigantic fib of biblical proportions about your previous life as a pilot or the fact that you are a recent multimillion-dollar lottery winner. 

Actually, the English language contains 112 words that denote some kind of deception. But, be warned, no matter how you choose to describe a lie, science can expose the truth.

Picture the scene: You’re negotiating with a new supplier or selling your services to a potential customer, but when either one of you lies, that person’s nose grows 6 inches à la Pinocchio. Can you imagine the numerous, embarrassing nasal lengths achieved as sales figures get massaged, experiences get inflated and impossible commitments get committed to.

In 1994, British psychologist Dr. Richard Wiseman researched lying in conjunction with a national newspaper. Forty thousand members of the public participated. In the first part, volunteers kept “lie diaries” for two weeks. The results: Only 8 percent recorded not lying at all. Most people told two “important” lies a day, a third of conversations involved some kind of deception and 80 percent of lies went undetected. (An additional tidbit: 60 percent had lied to get a job.)

And the ability to lie isn’t limited to humans. In the 1970s, developmental psychologist Dr. Francine Patterson of Stanford University trained two gorillas basic American Sign Language. In the following months, she claimed to witness them lying about various things including who broke their toys and how a jacket they were given got ripped. 

Do you think you’re a good liar, or more importantly, a good lie detector? The latter is a talent especially useful in law enforcement—and one bestowed to the best fictional detectives. In Jeffery Deaver’s 2008 novel The Sleeping Doll, the first chapter involves main character Agent Kathryn Dance interviewing convicted murderer Daniel Pell. Dance is trained in kinesics analysis (the reading of subtle changes in body language); her modus operandi is based on sound behavior techniques. 

She first establishes the subject’s baseline reaction to questions unrelated to the crime and then looks for changes when she brings allegations against him. The three best indicators are those that you’ll hear from behavioral experts, too—and the list doesn’t include lack of eye contact, shuffling or nervousness.

Instead, experts suggest you check nonverbal behavior (body language), verbal quality (pitch and number and length of pauses) and verbal content (what is actually said). (The first two are cited most. It is far easier to control what we say than how we say it or our body’s reaction when we do.)

As for the second part of Wiseman’s study, volunteers tried to spot people lying to them. The results showed that liars tend to distance themselves from their deceits by avoiding self-references and failing to describe their feelings and—on the basis that the more information they give the more there is to come back to haunt them—they tend to actually say little and offer few details.

Now, science is coming up with new ways to point out lies. According to Nature, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security has begun testing FAST (future attribute screening technology), with which agents can scan travelers’ faces and match their expressions to a database of lying looks. 

In Britain, The Times recently reported that HM Revenue and Customs is considering a machine that measures the surge in brain activity that occurs when people lie. Psychologists at the universities of Bradford and Aberystwyth in the U.K. have developed a facial scanner that looks for indications of lying including specific eye movements, over-blinking, pupil dilating, lip biting, nose wrinkling, heavy breathing and frequent swallowing. And these are just the visual signs—a thermal sensor picks up changes in blood flow, too. 

But are these developments a good thing? I feel it’s a shame if the advances in technology mean that practical skills such as kinesics analysis that take years to perfect became obsolete. In the same way that in-car satellite navigation arguably weakens our own directional skills, I hope that technology never substitutes for the skills we develop when interacting and meeting each other face to face…now doesn’t that sound familiar?

Right, I’ve got to rush. One+ expected this last week, and I’ve already had two deadline extensions. While, I’d like to tell you that I write my column weeks before deadline in an organized, calm and relaxed manner, it would be a lie! One+

Jonathan Bradshaw

Jonathan Bradshaw is an industry innovator who speaks, writes and consults on maximizing attendee performance at meetings. His work with behavioural psychologists, coupled with his experience in extreme sports performance, has led him to launch two innovative brands - Meetings Mindset® and the Meetology® Research Institute. He can be contacted at jon@meetingsmindset.com.

TAGS: negotiation , column , face to face , One+ November 2011 , lying